My Skin Type

So, before I can give you my regimen, it's probably best that I give you background on my skin type.

I get four types of nearly impossible-to-banish skin atrocities:

1.The hormone imbalance induced cysts I get that spontaneously arrive, usually not containing puss and not painful, but usually a very noticeable, hard, fluid sac on my forehead or chin...

2.Those little white clogged pores on the sides of my chin.They're not red or painful, its a little clogged pore filled with white stuff. Hardly noticeable unless I put my tongue under and push my cheek out. Then it's like 20 little white dots. (Not raised.) And some come out easy, shooting out a thin, stringy, sometimes coiling substance with very slight pressure...and some don't.Some are at the very surface and take almost no effort for the stuff to come out, and some are a little further underneath the skin and I make the stupid mistake of just pressing harder for it to come out (and it usually does)..and ta-da! Next day, I've got a cyst.So far I've just assumed they were plain, clogged pores, and there wasn't a name for them...but of course there has to be a diagnosis. I want to put a name to their evil little faces. And not even because they're highly noticeable like cysts are, but they are hard to get rid of short of squeezing them, which, even though satisfying, is highly likely to lead to way bigger issues. Like a monstrous, puss-filled cyst, which I'll get to next.

3.The dreaded, painful, puss/lymph filled cyst.The the kind of cyst I occasionally bring upon myself from trying to squeeze those tiny little white clogged pores I get on my chin...and it turns around and seeks it's revenge. And oh, do I pay the price. Usually these cysts are self-induced (I've gotten better, but I love to squeeze my clogged pores. I'm a squeezer. I get all amateur surgeon on it. Big no-no.) If I get these from squeezing, it's because the clog was deeper in the skin than I thought, and I couldn't get it out without lancing or tearing my skin up badly...so essentially I just squeezed the clog too hard, pissed it off, and it swelled up into a cyst and it stays there, pouting. Teaching me my lesson, taunting and asserting it's dominance until its made it's point and is ready to apologize and comes to the surface. I just have to wait for it to come to a head, extract the sebum, let heal....But sometimes these seemingly come out of nowhere. Those deep clogged pores suddenly decide it's time to f s*** up and get inflamed, and there's not a dang thing I can do about it (for several days, anyway).<br />

4. Yeah, I get open comedones (blackheads) on my nose, forehead (T zone) and the center of my chin. Who doesn't?

5.Closed closed comedones (whiteheads) on my forehead (and sometimes chin) as well, which look like small, non-inflamed sebum filled bumps covered by a layer of skin that show up on my forehead in my T Zone. No head, just small little barely-risen bumps. They're tough, un-sexy little suckers, especially in the wrong lighting...but easy to get rid of. In fact, comedones are the only skin atrocity I get that isn't a nightmare to get rid of.

MY SKIN TYPE*So, as you've read, I get all kinds of nasties on my forehead and chin area.*My chin and T zone are pretty oily.*My nose gets blackheads, and the the areas beside my nose get a maybe three or four blackheads and clogged pores (that never erupt)*My cheeks stay clear and not oily. Always. I think I've had maybe one or two zits on my cheeks, and in each case they were pointy, run of the mill whitehead zits (which never just show up overnight for me.) In that area I do have one thing to be thankful for!

So, if my skin sounds like your skin...,In my next blog, I'm going to tell you how I made it stop.I found a regimen that worked for me. I've been completely break-out free for 8 MONTHS now! Wooo!